Apple Puts iOS 7 Adoption At 87% As iOS 6 And Older Fade To Black

Apple has just released updating figures around iOS version adoption as measured by its own tracking of app usage, and iOS 7 and up now accounts for 87 percent of all iOS devices by that measurement, with iOS 6 making up 11 percent and older versions accounting for just 2 percent of the total picture.

That’s a very thoroughly homogenous mix, given the comparable Android numbers; Google’s own mix shows that the overwhelming majority of devices are still on some version of Jelly Bean, with a big chunk on Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich, and only a relatively small 5.3 percent on KitKat (4.4) or higher.

Apple’s numbers are slightly conservative compared to ones we’ve seen from other sources, too, including Mixpanel, which saw usage cross 90 percent a couple of weeks ago, and still shows it hovering just below that threshold. The adoption has risen from 74 percent late last year, charting consistent gains throughout 2014 so far.

Higher adoption means fewer headaches for developers, and a guaranteed consistency of experience across devices and users for both Apple its third-party software-makers. Google is trying to move some of its OS pieces into Play Store independent services to keep its experience easier to normalize, but Apple is still far and away the winner when it comes to the consistency of mobile OSes.